EPA Research

States and EPA Office of Research and Development: Partners to Meet State Research Needs

EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD) Support to State Summaries

These summaries showcase how EPA ORD’s work during the past five years, in partnership with state agencies, counties, communities and universities, has supported states in their efforts to protect human health and the environment.

EPA ORD has partnered with the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS, the national association of state environmental agency leaders) and its research arm, Environmental Research Institute of the States (ERIS), to ensure our research is useful and practical for states to help address their on the ground problems. Over the past six years, ERIS and EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) have strengthened the alignment of EPA’s scientific and technical capabilities with state research needs through a series of meetings and state surveys. As a result of this effort, EPA ORD better understands the science needs of state environmental agencies, and states better understand EPA ORD’s research, tools and role within EPA.

2016 ERIS States’ Research Needs Survey Summary: ERIS has worked closely with EPA ORD for several years to create a closer link between state science needs and the work of ORD. ERIS distributed its second bi-annual survey last fall. This summary of the 2016 survey results details current environmental priorities and research needs across states.

2014 ERIS States’ Research Needs Survey and EPA ORD Response: Throughout the summer and fall of 2014, the ERIS Board conducted a two-part survey looking at state interactions with EPA ORD and state research needs. The following documents describe EPA ORD’s response to work completed or underway related to the state research needs identified in the 2014 survey.

EPA, ECOS and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) Memorandum of Agreement on Public & Environmental Health

Formalizing an important new partnership, the EPA Administrator and the Presidents of ECOS and ASTHO entered into a groundbreaking Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in April 2016 to advance cooperative initiatives pertaining to public and environmental health. EPA, ECOS and ASTHO intend to collaborate in developing tools, reports, workshops, meetings, communications pathways and other tangible outcomes and initiatives that will leverage resources and advance our mutually shared mission of protecting the public’s health from environmental threats and hazards and advancing health and environmental equity for all citizens.

In 2016, EPA ORD worked with state partners on two pilots: Wildfire Smoke Guide for Public Health Officials and EPA’s Community-Focused Exposure and Risk Screening Tool (C-FERST). Status reports for the two pilots can be found here.

EPA Tools and Resources Webinar Series

To help ensure that the tools and resources EPA develops are accessible and useful for needs on the ground, ORD hosts a monthly webinar series to share EPA research, demonstrate tools and seek input from partners. EPA Tools and Resources monthly webinars are generally held the third Wednesday of each month, 3-4 pm ET. Learn more about our next webinar and view the archive.

EPA Research Products and Tools

EPA ORD is a vital scientific and technical resources to states and their communities, providing the technical support and training, science-based tools, and innovative approaches and methods they need to help address on-the-ground problems. Tools demonstration events have been held for states and national state associations to showcase EPA ORD tools and gather feedback from state partners.